Cheung Kong Holdings
CHEUY
the city's biggest real estate developer, lost 1.8 percent to 98.25 Hong Kong dollars. The company is set to buy a controlling stake in a Hong Kong gold bullion refiner RNA Holdings, which will give it access to China's restricted gold bullion market, reported the South China Morning Post on Monday.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 3.6 percent at 2,470.97 on Friday, wiping out almost all of its gains for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.9 percent to 10,781.45.

South Korea, Taiwan gain

South Korean stocks erased morning losses by early afternoon. The benchmark Seoul Composite Index ended up 0.63 percent to 599.20 points, boosted by sharp gains in domestic banks and brokerages, after several foreign brokerages predicted that Bank of Korea will cut interest rates for the second time this month to spur economic growth.

Australia's All Ordinaries Index edged up 0.48 percent to 3,277.1 points. Volume leader Woodside Petroleum
WOPEY, -2.14%
tumbled 4.1 percent to 13.91 Australian dollars, after Australian lawmakers signaled their opposition to a hostile bid by Royal Dutch/Shell Group
RD
for Australia's largest local energy company.

But media giant News Corp.
NWS, +0.61%
rose 3.3 percent to 18.49 Australian dollars, continuing to benefit from media reports that its chairman Rupert Murdoch is close to clinching a deal to acquire satellite broadcaster DirecTV from General Motors
GM, +0.10%
in the U.S.

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